THEODORE FLOODS 2011
Paper Presented by:
Alistair Cumming & Col Kirkegaard
Authors:
Alistair Cumming, Co-Ordinator Treatment Technologies,
Col Kirkegaard, Supervisor Dawson North,
Banana Shire Council
37th Annual Qld Water Industry Operations Workshop
Parklands, Gold Coast
5 June to 7 June, 2012
37th Annual Qld Water Industry Operations Workshop
Parklands, Gold Coast - 5 to 7 June, 2012
Page No. 124
THEODORE FLOODS 2011
Alistair Cumming, Co-Ordinator Treatment Technologies, Banana Shire Council
Col Kirkegaard, Supervisor Dawson North, Banana Shire Council
I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of rugged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains
And that is how 2010 ended and 2011 started - with the flooding rain bit.
It was water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
This whole adventure started on Christmas day 2010 as the sun was just getting out of bed that
was the first of many phone calls. The first alert was that the river was rising rather quickly in
both Theodore and Moura. The operators were informed to monitor it till I could get home as I
was marooned in Calliope. And to keep contact with me.
27/12/2010
The assistant operator at Theodore phoned saying he was filling the tower as the river was rising
and he feared that there could be water in the water plant by morning. Told him to fill the tower
and close the plant down over night. The tower was filled to 110% which would be enough water
to supply the town. I instructed the operator to monitor the river and note it in the diary.
28/12/2010
When the operator checked the water plant and what was in the tower by the telemetry there was
only 50% in the tower so we had used 60% of the water stored. I asked the operator what was
the state of the river told me it was getting high and there was talk of evacuations. He told me
that he could still get around town so I asked him to check if he could see any major water
movement as he drove around town. The operator phoned me again telling me that the river was
coming up fast and what should he do? I told him to check the sewage plant and phone me back.
The return phone call informed me that the river was lapping the building at the sewage plant. I
told him to close the plant down and turn all power off and make it secure. Later the operator
said that the water at the sewage plant was about 300mm by the time he had turned everything
off and secured. Told him to go check on the water plant and let me know the situation as they
were starting to evacuate the town and to see if we could still fill the tower up as we were now
down to 20%.
The operator phoned me saying that he could still operate the plant and was filling the tower up.
By the time the tower was filled about two thirds of the town had been evacuated to Moura and
the tower was 110% by the time the sun had gone down the operator then shut the plant down
and turned off the power.
29/12/2010
In the morning of the 29th when the tower was checked we had about 60% of water left in the
tower, this I thought was not right as it was not from public use so I suspected a leak in the
mains.
37th Annual Qld Water Industry Operations Workshop
Parklands, Gold Coast - 5 to 7 June, 2012
Page No. 125
The operator was approached by a member of council (who had nothing to do with water or
sewage) to turn the water plant on and to fill the tower. Before that, the same person had asked
another member of council (who again had nothing to do with water or sewage) to turn the plant
on but that person declined the invitation informing the person it was not in his job description
and walked away. The said person then went back to the operator and told him to start the plant
the operator informed the person that it was not a good idea as the flood water was rising around
the high lift pumps at the water plant. But the said person who knew everything about everything
told the operator that he had to do it because it was a directive.
And like the old TV ad but wait there’s more. Previously the operator, a member of SES plus an
electrician went to check the condition of the plant. They were walking through water a foot
deep. Meanwhile the rest of the population of the town were getting evacuated and only a
handful of police would be left in town. So when the three from the water plant returned to the
evacuation area, the person then sent the three back to water the plant to start it up. This was
done with the operator not a happy camper; the water plant would not run on automatic but only
on manual. The operator left instructions that the plant was be turned off when tower was full.
The question was asked “when do you know when the tower is full?” – “when it is running over
the top of the tower”.
The flood water was now running level with the floor of the office. So all that was left was 8
members of the thin blue line. By next morning we had lost another 40% which in itself was
rather strange with only 8 people in town. My fear was that now we could have a major leak
somewhere in the mains. If there was a major leak there was very little that could be done until
the water had gone down.
By 31/12/2010 the town was flooded and the water was 1.78m through the sewage plant and the
high lift pumps at the water plant were under water. In the mean time we were planning what
necessary to start the recovery. We put together a list of what would be needed to get started. A
small team was formed to see what was damaged and to check what mains we could get to.
Figure 1:
Main street (The Boulevard)
We were able to get access to Theodore by chopper in the first week of January and we hit the
town running. The retic crew went and checked the mains and services while Col and I checked
the water plant and sewage plant.
37th Annual Qld Water Industry Operations Workshop
Page No. 126
Parklands, Gold Coast - 5 to 7 June, 2012
Figure 2:
The dryest part of Town - (Looking towards the Pub)
The sewage plant was still under a metre of water and there was not much we could do there for
the time being. The water plant was in a better state and we could get access. After checking
the plant, a plan of attack was formed for the water plant. A phone call to organise the
electrician to fly in next day was made. Then it was off to the raw water pump station. We
discovered that the pumps inside the pump well were 10m under water. We set up pumps to
remove the water so we could reach the pump motors. As this was going on, the reticulation
crew could not find anything that looked like a leak, but what they did find was the reason for
the loss of water someone had tried to open a valve on the tower but did not turn off properly so
the mystery was solved.
Figure 3:
Another angle from the main street (water tower in the foreground)
37th Annual Qld Water Industry Operations Workshop
Parklands, Gold Coast - 5 to 7 June, 2012
Page No. 127
Figure 4:
Looking west towards the business end of town
So by the 5th of January we had the water plant well on the way to recovery. The raw water
pumps had been sent for repair and would be reinstalled next day. The sewage pump stations
were all operational, but at this time only minimal use was going to sewage plant. We now had
access to the sewage plant and that was not a pretty sight. There was still about 200mm of
sludge on the ground, but the sewage plant - being an Imhoff Tank with Bio-filter, was still
working for what it was receiving.
On the 6th January we were able to enter Theodore by road with all the gear that we needed.
The first job was to get the raw water pumps working and then the army came to the rescue
flying in a portable water plant which took a lot of pressure of us so we could concentrate on
getting the water plant up and running. The army were making water for cleaning and flushing.
They could only make enough water to part flush the mains, but what they did was very handy.
By the 8th of January we had the sewage plant up and running and so were the sewage pump
stations. The water plant was now working but not producing water as we were still in start up
mode making sure that all equipment would work OK. The army was suppling water for
flushing and clean up as there was plenty of bottled water for drinking.
On the 9th of January the water plant was fired up and we started to fill up the mains and
checking for leaks as we filled the reticulation system. We then super chlorinated the mains
using a 20% solution of chlorine and left the system overnight fully charged. The next day we
drained the mains and flushed and recharged the mains again using a 20% solution of chlorine
and flushed again. This was done over the next two days then on the 12th of January the first
samples were sent to Rockhampton for testing. The following day 13th we got the first results
back and they were positive for low level of contamination.
The following day 14th we super chlorinated the mains again. Over the weekend, samples were
taken and sent to Rockhampton for testing. For the next four days we monitored the water
supply and tested in-house as well as sending samples to the lab for testing. On the 18th of
January we finally got the all clear that the water met the ADWG criteria and so the water
supply was back to normal. It was a great experience and very satisfying for a job well done.
37th Annual Qld Water Industry Operations Workshop
Parklands, Gold Coast - 5 to 7 June, 2012
Page No. 128